Christmas Magic

The Magic's Darrell Armstrong and Bo Outlaw will be donning Santa hats again on Wednesday to the delight of disadvantaged local children invited to Planet Hollywood Orlando's annual party. Pepsi -- Armstrong's favorite TV drink -- will be kicking in some holiday loot, but the shining angel of the event is Chrysler Jeep, which donated $10,000 in toys for the two to deliver. We caught up with Armstrong for a quick Christmas Q&A: Best gift you received as a kid? "Everything I got." The absolute worst?

Monday night's home game against the New York Knicks was as close as the Orlando Magic will get to playing on Christmas this year. As recently as two years ago, however, the Magic could count on being included in the NBA's annual slate of Christmas Day games. The Magic played on the holiday each year from 2008 through 2012, which brought positives and negatives. The biggest positive was that it reflected the Magic's status within the league as a title contender. The negative, of course, was that the games interrupted holiday time with family.

Doc Rivers conducted a walkthrough for the Boston Celtics on Christmas morning in the team's hotel ballroom, facing tough obstacles before arriving at Amway Arena to play the Orlando Magic. Apparently, some of the players' families were taking in the X's and O's, too. "We flew in all of the families and they were all there during our breakfast meeting," Rivers said, adding with a laugh: "It is not easy drawing up plays when you have kids running all over, but it was good. "It is what it should be like on Christmas Day."

'Tis the offseason to be jolly at Clifford Ray's house. Actually, it always feels as if visions of sugarplums dance in your head, the halls are decked and Santa Claus is coming to town at his home in Altamonte Springs. Ray, an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic, keeps up a Christmas tree all year and has for years. It's a 10-footer, artificial, but decorated with colorful bulbs he has received from friends and fans worldwide. "I try to promote goodness. There's so much negativity in the world," Ray said.

Eustis Main Street will present "Christmas Magic" as the theme for First Friday's Street Fest from 6 to 10 p.m. The main stage will feature Gerico playing rock 'n' roll music; the west stage will have the Caribbean Experience Band playing reggae and Caribbean music. Students of Studio 19 will perform dance routines from their modern ballet version of Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen in the Alice McClelland Band Shell in Ferran Park. The Bay Street Players will present The 1940s Radio Hour at 8 p.m. at the State Theatre, Bay Street, downtown Eustis.

By Gina Smith and Jeff Stensland the (Columbia, S.C.) State, December 25, 2002

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Holiday miracles are said to come in all shapes and sizes. And some are hoping that their miracles come in the shape of a small paper ticket worth nearly $300 million. The multistate Powerball lottery drawing is today. With no winner Saturday, the prize is rising to what is expected to be the third-largest jackpot and largest Christmas jackpot since it started in 1992. The odds of winning are one in 120 million. Linda Heath, 50, an engineer from Columbia, was lured Monday by the hefty jackpot.

The Magic's Darrell Armstrong and Bo Outlaw will be donning Santa hats again on Wednesday to the delight of disadvantaged local children invited to Planet Hollywood Orlando's annual party. Pepsi -- Armstrong's favorite TV drink -- will be kicking in some holiday loot, but the shining angel of the event is Chrysler Jeep, which donated $10,000 in toys for the two to deliver. We caught up with Armstrong for a quick Christmas Q&A: Best gift you received as a kid? "Everything I got." The absolute worst?

CLERMONT - Santa rides a firetruck, and he works at the Kash N' Karry. Although his whiskers were glued on, he still delivered real Christmas magic to more than 110 needy children in south Lake.We're not talking just a few candy canes, some ho-ho-hos and pre-wrapped generic gifts.We're talking bikes - brand-spanking new. Nike sneakers. Boom boxes. Pokemon, the coveted craze of the moment. The stuff of Christmas wishes.Santa - aka Harry Gray, 38 - gets his Christmas magic from two churches, a local charity and some merry grown-ups, including a few who maxed out their credit cards for kids who weren't likely to get anything otherwise.